How to Get Your Art Seen on Art Station

The internet has opened up new avenues for artists to build a steady income through original artwork. In fact, online fine art sales accept been rising since 2013, with some years seeing an manufacture high of nigh 8 billion.

But with the limitless possibilities provided by the internet, it tin be hard to know where to get started every bit an artist. At that place'south a lot of advice when it comes to selling online, simply the art world comes with unique considerations, from printing and packaging to making sure it arrives in one slice.

Luckily, you don't need an MBA to get into ecommerce. In this guide nosotros'll embrace some foolproof strategies to help you showtime selling your artwork online, and gear up upwards a steady income.

Why sell online rather than in a physical setting?

For centuries, art has been sold in markets and bazaars; galleries and antiquarian stores. No amount of DMs, Tweets or NFTs in the world can entirely replace the demand for an in-person connect—we beloved to see products before we buy them, and that's especially true when information technology comes to art.

Only there are drawbacks when it comes to selling in a physical setting. The barrier to entry is much higher and the reach of sales is limited to a certain area, non to mention the hoops you accept to jump through to get your art stocked in a gallery.

In comparison, selling your work online gives you lot much greater freedom and control over the way your art is displayed and sold. Plus, you can sell your work all over the globe without e'er leaving your favorite arm chair.Some of the biggest areas of difference include:

• Pricing: You get to fix your ain prices. Certain, at that place are commissions from some sites and logistical elements (e.thousand. online fine art marketplaces and print-on-demand services), but you define how much your art is worth.
• Presentation: Galleries and other art businesses often restrict their collections to certain types of work, and display it in a fashion they meet fit. Online, y'all can show off your art in whatever way you wish.
• Client relationships: When you lot run your own fine art business organisation y'all tin build a relationship with your customers, rather than selling art to faceless buyers. Add a contact form to your website, and build an e-mail list to keep customers appraised of your piece of work.

In that location are pros and cons to both. Physical galleries are a part of the local community, allow people to view your art in person, and often promote your work for y'all. Selling art online gives y'all more control over pricing and branding, and connects y'all to a greater audition.

It'due south of import to note the two aren't mutually exclusive. You lot can sell online and in physical settings, which is what most successful contemporary artists do. In that location'southward zip stopping you from setting upward an online store, and too getting active in the customs, or doing the rounds at art fairs.

💡 Tip: An omnichannel strategy often provides much better results than restricting yourself to a single medium.

How to sell fine art online: 6 strategies for success

Whether you're new to the whole or you're shifting from selling in person, starting to sell your fine art online tin can feel daunting. These vi steps will aid you become yourself on the marketplace in no time.

one. Define yourself as an artist

An essential role of being an artist is discovering your inner vocalism and style, the two things that make yous unique. This doesn't come from a single source. It comes from everything—your background, beliefs, inspirations, experiences, and much more than.

The value of "knowing yourself" is now widely recognised. But for artists, it'south even more crucial. Knowing yourself precedes you being able to tell people what you and your artwork correspond. In other words: how volition potential customers know who you are if you lot don't?

Whether you eat, pray and beloved your way at that place, or accept a personality quiz, there are a few fundamental questions you need to figure out before starting to sell online:

• Who am I as an artist?
• What am I hoping to convey with my work?
• What separates my work from other artists?

These are just ideas to get you started. Recall most what you're creating with your art, and how you lot want to correspond that to the earth. Information technology doesn't have to be some loftier and mighty calling either—perchance y'all just like drawing skulls and you're good at it.

Take Sydney-based creative person, Sindy Sinn for example. He's a talented illustrator with a singled-out style influenced by heavy metal, and bold, creepy designs. He doesn't shy away from what makes him unique, and in doing so, has attracted work megastars like Metallica and Greenish Day, and other major clients around the globe.

(Image Source: Sindy Sinn)

Now, it doesn't take much to imagine that Sindy's style won't be everyone's loving cup of tea (it mightn't tickle your grandma'south fancy, for example). Simply so what? You can't delight everyone. Sindy is the prime instance of an artist who understand his fashion and vox, and uses information technology to his reward.

Worried about revealing also much of yourself? Remember: your art is going to affect people on an emotion level, fifty-fifty if you lot only sell prints with cute ducks on them. The more you lot reveal yourself, the more people will connect with you.

"Figure out the one thing that is most essential for people to know about your work. The affair that if it was left out, or misinterpreted, you'd feel truly lamentable or angry. Utilise that."
— Chloë Bass, Creative person and Public Practitioner.

💡 Tip: If you've got a website upward and running, or are working on it, make sure your 'About Me' section is featured prominently. It's a great avenue for people to connect with you and learn more nearly your story.

2. Outline your goals

Broadly speaking, your goal is to brand sure your art sells. But there's a lot that goes in to creating your own online art business, and you're going to have to decide what exactly you want out of it.

Big questions first—volition this be a side hustle or your new ix-v? Is art a hobby y'all can make a few bucks with, or practise you plan on turning it into your dream career? Working this out informs how you'll arroyo your new business.

Once you know where you stand overall, you can zoom in and create specific goals effectually how you lot're going to achieve it. The S.M.A.R.T framework gives a adept guide on creating goals that set you lot up for success. These goals are specific, measurable, doable, relevant to your larger dreams, and time -bound.

Let's take a await at how the framework might relate to you equally an creative person:

• Specific: Your goal is to sell your art, merely your specific goals might be around what type of fine art, how you're going to produce information technology, in what quantity etc.
• Measure: Attributing articulate, doable goals that you tin measure, like selling a certain amount of pieces in a month.
• Achievable: Goals should be challenging just doable (east.g. selling three pieces in my first fortnight, rather than 3,000). Otherwise you set yourself up to fail.
• Relevant: Make sure individual goals relate to the bigger picture. Consider why you want to sell your art and the steps that'll become you lot there.
• Time-bound: Institute a clear timeframe within which you lot want to hit your goals. Without this, you'll be stuck maxim "one solar day I'll become around to information technology" and never start.

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three. Figure out the logistics

Selling art online isn't quite equally simple every bit snapping a photograph, and waiting for the cash to start rolling in. Art comes with lots of logistics to iron out, and information technology's a adept idea to do so earlier you showtime making sales so you can actually guarantee your customers will go their art in one piece.

When working out the details of your online art business organization, consider your presentation, insurance, pricing, printing, and shipping processes in particular.

🎨 Presenting your artwork for auction

How volition you evidence your artwork? If you're a photographer, videographer or digital artist, you'll have an advantage hither, just if yous piece of work in a physical medium (canvass paintings or pottery for example) it's a bit more complicated.

If you're creating 2d fine art yous might consider getting a scanner. Yous'll be able to find basic devices for a few hundred bucks, but the more than high-quality ones can cost into the thousands—which isn't a smart investment if yous're just starting out.

You might consider using professional scanning. These services specialise in loftier-quality reproductions of art, and volition take all the tedium out of the process. This tin as well exist expensive though, particularly if you're dealing with a big volume of pieces.

Alternatively—and if the type of art you create can't exist scanned—photography will do the job. With any bones smartphone and a bones understanding of what goes into good product photos, you'll be able to showcase your art beautifully.

Hither's a few quick tips for taking photos of your art:

• Use a blank background—white sheets or cardboard is bang-up
• Make sure your room is well-lighted, ideally with nature sunlight
• Keep lighting and photographic camera angle consistent across each image
• Take multiple pictures so you have plenty of options to cull from

🔒Protecting your art and business with insurance

Yous're running an art concern. That ways you need insurance. This is something that emerging artists frequently don't call up of, until their studio is flooded, or their art is broken in transit, or something else goes wrong.

At present nosotros won't pretend to exist insurance experts, and it's i of those topics that'south both terrifying and extremely dull. It's also necessary, (especially when your art is a huge success and you're shipping pieces effectually the world). Have a conversation with an insurance broker to assess your individual needs.

💡 Tip: Go along receipts for everything you buy (your auditor will cheers come taxation time). Photos are an excellent style to show ownership. Also, keep in mind that if you're working from home, your business assets volition not exist covered nether your home and contents policy.

💰 Pricing your art

Y'all've put in countless hours of hard work and produced something beautiful—you deserve to be paid for your fine art. But too oftentimes people don't really recall about what a price represents. It's not merely a tag you slap on an end product, it's a reflection of the fourth dimension, try and materials you've put in to it.

"Your time doesn't mean how long your hands were on clay or your stylus was on a tablet. It means how long you were shopping for your materials, how long information technology took to brainstorm your projection, how long yous spent promoting information technology and how long it'll take to sort out all these logistics."

And so how do you settle on pricing? Well information technology depends on the type of art, and the cache you lot take—Banksy could chuck a can of pigment at a wall and fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars. The near helpful strategy is to behave bones market research and get an thought of what similar artists accuse.

Coming up with pricing is not an easy conclusion to make. Information technology can take some finessing to become right. Just retrieve, you want to continue your pricing competitive, while trying non to fix the bar too low. Cheap art tin can turn away but as many sales as overcharging.

🖨 Printing digital art

Almost anybody decorates their home with art prints, which is practiced news if you're an creative person. There's just one complication: printing. Now, if y'all really want to avoid it, you can offer customers the ability to download the digital file and print information technology at home.

But if you don't feel comfortable freely sharing your work like that, the responsibility falls on you. If you have a high-quality printer yous can admittedly make your prints at home, merely much similar a scanner, that comes with considerable toll.

The chances are yous'll want to outsource this. Whether it'due south the local Officeworks or Staples, or whatsoever other impress-on-need business, y'all'll be able to become high-quality fine art prints at a toll betoken that makes sense for yous. At that place are also online printing companies that specialise in art, which can give you extra peace of mind.

💡 Tip: If you outsource your press, consider having your artwork shipped to you earlier sending information technology out to customers. That way yous tin can check the quality and ensure they come out exactly how you want them to. It'due south important to sustain quality to retain customers.

📦 Shipping your artwork to customers

Getting your fine art to customers in ane slice is secondary in importance only to actually creating the art. If you're selling digital files you'll have one less thing to worry virtually, but if not, you've got a lot of ducks to arrive a row—fast shipping can be the difference betwixt making a sale or not.

In that location are four parts to the process: preparing your fine art, packaging it, handle shipping companies (or posting it yourself) and aftercare.

The start step is to prepare your art. Normally this means wrapping it in protective plastic, or tucking it safely in a cardboard box with lots of bubble wrap. Of course, this differs widely depending on what you lot're selling, but the principle remains the aforementioned: make sure information technology's safe.

For larger pieces you might need a dedicated shipping partner, merely most fine art can be shipped through regular post. Lots of successful online artists package and ship their ain art. If you cull this selection, just be wary that you'll article of clothing any damages or other concerns. Once more, insurance is your friend.

In one case you have your art prepped, packed, and shipped, it's time for aftercare. Bank check in with your customer and assuage whatever shipping concerns.

💡 Tip: Go along in mind that the price of shipping will vary depending on the size and weight of your art. Get a rough quote before you toll your artwork, and then you can choose whether to work that into the general price, charge extra for shipping, or merely cover it yourself.

4. Choose where to sell your art online

There's no shortage of ecommerce platforms and solutions to sell your art, only they aren't all created quite equal. At that place are two main means to sell art on the internet:

• Online marketplaces (Etsy, ArtPal, IndieMade): these are easy to use and offer require minimal upkeep, though accept a large percentage of your profits.
• Your own ecommerce store (WordPress, Shopify, Paperform): which gives you the liberty to present your art and story in your ain way, and keep more of your profits.

Which solution yous choose depends largely on your own skillset, and what you desire out of your business. For example, if you're a hobbyist who just wants a bit of cash on the side, you might decide a market place similar Etsy is correct for y'all. On the reverse, if you're serious nearly your art business organisation, a website is almost always the answer.

🖼 Online art marketplaces

There are boatloads of online marketplaces out at that place, and they fall into the following categories:

Dealer-exclusive marketplaces like Artnet and Artsy are sites that just allow galleries to sign upwardly. If you belong to a gallery, information technology'due south worth looking into them, as this is where the real curators go. Their buyers mean business.

Top-cease marketplaces similar Saatchi Art, Artfinder and Artplode allow you to put your original work in an online art gallery. They often charge loftier commissions (Saatchi Fine art takes 35% of your sale), but they come with an audience that is willing to pay much higher prices.

Broad-reach marketplaces similar Etsy, Amazon Art, ArtPal and eBay generate huge traffic, but there's also a lot of contest. People going to these sites are often later on a bargain, so keep that in mind when pricing your art.

Print-on-demand marketplaces like Redbubble, Society6 and Fine Art America allow customers to buy items with reproductions of your blueprint on it. These can be anything from canvas prints to home decor to phone cases. The profit you make on these sites has to exist small to compete with all the other items, only you tin sell large volumes in a very passive way.

Stock-item marketplaces like Unsplash, Shutterstock and iStock sell stock images at a very depression price and, like print-on-need marketplaces, offer a way to make a lot of fine art sales without needing whatsoever input from yous later on y'all upload it.

🛍 Your own ecommerce store

If you want to work (and earn) equally an artist on a full-fourth dimension basis, you need your own website. Volition information technology accept a bit more effort? Sure. But equally long as you're relying on tertiary parties to sell your piece of work, you'll be paying heavy commissions, and conforming to their pricing and presentation restrictions.

"If you lot're serious about selling your fine art, y'all will need to create your own online store and constitute a brand of your own from the ground up."

Dodging those extra fees is a proficient reason all on its own, but the biggest advantage of your ain website is that information technology'due south all well-nigh you. Gallery and marketplaces' branding will always overshadow their artists'. Your ain site doesn't have this limitation.

Merely creating a website from scratch is a huge task. You can make it easier on yourself by using Paperform to create a uncomplicated yet powerful 1-page website  that showcases your art and empowers yous to sell online, your mode.

(Image Source: Paperform's Ecommerce Photography Template)

With our costless-text editor you don't demand any coding skills or web design feel to create a stylish website with all the advanced features and integrations yous could need. Just build your folio (from ane of our 650+ templates or from scratch) and customise everything from the font and colours to the images, layout, and buttons. We give you the tools, and let you take the reins.

💡 Tip: Prefer to use a WordPress site? Paperform has a WordPress plugin that allows y'all to embed beautiful payment and contact forms right into your existing website.

5. Develop your brand

You lot want people to instantly recognise yous and your work. This should exist the case no matter where they come up across it, be it your Twitter account, your Instagram page, or a stall at the local markets.

Branding is how people recognise you. Information technology'due south besides a reflection of what yous represent as an artist and a person. Retrieve about how Dolce & Gabbana reflects elegance, or Tesla represents innovation and futurism. What is it that yous and your art represent?

"It tin can also be helpful to recollect about your existing (or intended) audition. Who are they, what are their demographics and why does your piece of work resonate with them?"

Be consequent in the way y'all represent yourself online—both in the way you human activity, and visually. Apply the aforementioned fonts, colours and brand assets in whatever social posts and product listings to brand yourself immediately recognisable.

While the development of your visual aesthetic tin take fourth dimension, virtually of personal branding is about being authentic and honest about what you do and what you believe in. The online fine art market is crowded; what makes you memorable is y'all.

Melbourne-based artist, Ginger Taylor, does a great job of branding herself:

(Image Source: Ginger Taylor)

Social media is an important office of building your brand and online presence, only it's crucial to choice the right channels and work to their strengths. For instance, you lot might use Instagram for sharing pictures of your art and backside-the-scenes of your creative process, and Twitter for more than full general interactions with the art customs.

While you lot can pick and cull which social media platforms to sign upward to— it's just impossible to exist active on all of them—Instagram is essential. The visual nature of the platform lends itself to showcasing art, and information technology's common for artists to use their Instagram pages as a kind of portfolio.

"As a photographer Instagram is the number i place I build my following," Tudor Stanescu, a Canadian-based photographer and videographer told Paperform. "Beingness active on a daily ground and engaging with the community in my niche has helped me grow."

"Using Instagram's has helped me connect on a deeper level with my audience. More than importantly, information technology has helped me build an authentic brand. My audience now feels more inclined to follow my journey and support it in whatever way they can."
—Tudor Stanescu, Photographer and Videographer

Social media shouldn't merely be a ane-way mode of advice. To build a true following, you need to "engage" with your customs—this means celebrating the piece of work of other artists, chatting with customers, and edifice relationships.

You tin as well connect with art collectors through your socials. This is an opportunity for indirect marketing also as getting to know your audience. People who interact with your posts can let you know what they want. They also get to run across you as a person, and that'south more effective at bringing in sales than any marketing campaign.

💡 Tip: Aslope the principal social media platforms similar Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, you might call up about getting active in art-focused communities. ArtStation and Deviantart are just ii examples, or you lot can even find niche communities on a platform like Reddit.

vi. Aggrandize your marketing channels

Social media is a great identify to become started with your marketing efforts. Because it's become such a normal part of life, it doesn't necessarily "feel" similar marketing.

But at that place are a range of other marketing tools and strategies you lot tin can use to get the give-and-take out about your art. Subsequently all, if a canvas is painted and no one is effectually to see it, is it really painted at all?

Having a website and social media set up is a adept start. Once that'south done, here are a few other ways to bring in traffic and commencement making sales:

• Learn the basics of SEO and PPC to aid interested customers discover you.
• Start a blog on your website (or use a platform like Substack) to abound your audience and build authority around your specific fine art grade.
• Host contests and giveaways on social channels to promote interaction and grow your post-obit.
• Run ad campaigns on Google and social media platforms that target your ideal audition.
• Accomplish out to fine art blogs, media and podcasts to aid grow your personal brand and creative network.
• Create a referral program that offers perks and discounts to your audience when they share your work with family and friends. People trust discussion-of-mouth.
• Build an email listing to convert website visitors into an active community that you tin remarket to.

You'll be able to find plenty of great resources on all these strategies and more than online. Remember, because you're only one person, be certain to evaluate your marketing campaigns every few months to run across what is (and isn't) working.

Over to you

Whether yous're looking to create a passive income on the side or turn your passion into a full-time profession, selling online is a fantastic way to attain your goals.

While fine art isn't always an easy profession to be in, it's a rewarding i that allows y'all to exercise your creativity while too honing your skills equally a business organisation owner.

Using the right tools and platforms for your particular brand is an important role of your strategy. You tin can get started with Paperform'southward 14 day free trial to bring your make to life with a unique portfolio and online store.

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About the author

Laura Wilson
Writer

Laura is a sometime Content Writer at Paperform.

brucekated1967.blogspot.com

Source: https://paperform.co/blog/sell-art-online/